21 Months

Well the kid is almost two and is acting more like a three year old. He wants to play with everyone who is older and the toys he goes for are all for ages 3+. His cousins Nate and Meggie came over last weekend and he had the time of his life and was exhausted by the time they left.

Here is what he is in to now that he is 21 months:

• Loves waffles and pancakes gets mad if you don't have them ready for him when he sits down at the table.
• Can ride his scooter and his bike pretty well but isn't a huge fan of his helmet.
• Has really acclimated to gym daycare's and will steal toys if he can get away with it
• Likes to brush his teeth and will let you get in the back now.
• Loves running around at little kickers and is getting better at taking direction
• He learned to hug other children and will do it when asked
• Turned into a daddy's boy and will cry if he leaves the room.
• Sleeps in his bed every night until midnight and then comes into our bed but takes the extra steps to his dad's side so he will pick him up.
• Has all teeth but 4
• He thinks smiling at himself in the mirror and making faces is hilarious.

20 Months

Who knew that one day Johnny would stop drinking milk and taking a bottle. I dreaded the thought of having to wean him off of his favorite past time...drinking his bottle... and so I was pleasantly surprised when he did it on his own. I am still confused as to what happened and what brought this on but I will take it. Now if he could only be done wanting to sleep with another person than that would be great. This little guy is growing into a full on toddler and I feel weird calling him the baby now. He still runs the roost and we call ourselves his Sherpa as we are always tasked with having to carry his bunny, teddy bear, and 3 blankets up and down the stairs. Here is what he is in to now that he is 20 months:

• Eats a ton more now that there isn't milk in the picture but struggling to get enough calcium in him so we do it with yogurt, pudding, or cheese
• Obsessed right now with fun fruits and points at the cupboard and yells for them
• Will now pick up his toys and put them back in their bins when asked to do so
• Still craves being outside and am going to need to invest in some Nike's as he runs everywhere
• Can't tell what hand he is still since he uses his utensils with both hands but seems to kick with his right foot
• Had a good arm to throw and strong leg to kick his soccer ball
• Loves the feeling of running downhill and does it on everyone's driveway in the cul de sac
• His hair is turning more and more brown and he has pretty much all of his teeth I think
• Favorite toys are still his cars and trains
• Oh and loves to pick his nose and eat his boogers. I know totally gross but pretty funny to watch how into it he gets and enjoys it.

19 Months

We just got back from Mexico for Brian's company trip and I was worried that johnny would not care about me when I got back since he has changed to being a Grandma's boy and the moment we saw each other was all worth it. He arrived on a flight from Cali with my mom and so we were all at the airport at the same time and when he saw me he grabbed my neck and didn't let go for 10 minutes. He would keep looking up at my face and smiling so big and I just melted.

I did really well and didn't miss him like I thought I would but maybe because I could go out to eat every night and not worry about him squirming or the 12+ hours of sleep I was getting. Johnny apparently had the time of his life in Cali with my mom's family and Brian's parents which made me super happy but I was worried that he would have forgotten about me or something. Well glad to know that mommy. Johnny is now 19 months and in my opinion looks sooo much older in just a month.

What Johnny is like at 19 months

• Hair is starting to turn more brown
• Sleeps in our bed and is a much more restless and squirmy kid in the early morning.
• Getting him to eat a meal is difficult and what he likes now is fries, pears, mac & cheese, raisins, crackers
• Still takes about 3 milk bottles a day
• Wants to be outside all the time still, watching Dinosaur Train or on my mom's iPad.
• iPad pro and scrolls, taps and knows how to work all of his Apps. Can place correct shapes and put puzzles together on one of the Apps.

• Struggling to get his words out but talks a lot. Main words are ball, ba ba, daddy, ma ma, car, bye bye.
• Can now show his toes and hair
• Likes the feeling of running down hill and will run down everyone on our street's driveway to get the rush
• Likes to throw his toys when he is done with it. A toy train to the face really hurts.
• Good traveler but mediocre dinner date. 25 minutes and you have to leave.
• Loves to make dinosaur noises. Everything dinosaur he loves.

Year of Changes

As Buddy on Dinosaur Train says "I have a hypothesis" that this year will a year of change. There is so much going on with our family already and I can't wait to see how we will end up come December. My car is finally getting fixed and I will probably be getting a new one after it is done, we are moving out of our house, we are trying for baby #2 and, and some other things that I won't mention until I know more.

Thank god after 30 days the insurance company finally settled their issues and will be covering the costs of the damage from my car that Brian crashed during the snow storm. Long story short, they showed that I was covered on my old X5 instead of my new one, even though we have been paying the premiums. I want a 3rd row jump seat and so we are looking at cars that will provide more room. Maybe a Tahoe, X5, Volvo, Mazda, or something like that.

We are excited to finally move after 7.5 years in our house and are planning on renting our house since it is such a renter's market right now. We could sell it but the profitability per month of renting wins over breaking even on a sale. We put an offer on a house on the Plateau that is a short sale so it will take forever to find out if we got it but in the meantime we are looking in Woodinville, Redmond, Sammamish, and Kirkland.

And last but not least it is that time to get rolling on baby #2. I don't want to kids too far apart and so we are at the point of just seeing what happens.

Oh this year will be busy and exciting and can't wait to see how everything ends up.

18 Months

Johnny has hit that 18 month milestone and I still cannot believe it is here. Life flies by so fast these days and I am really trying to take in as much as I can. I race home after work instead of going to the gym so that I can get the sweetest hug and smile from my boy and play with him and find out what I missed during the day while at work. I call his special hug that he gives me his "I love you hug" because he lays his head on my right shoulder and give me a squeeze and I think that is his way of telling me that he missed me. I live for it.

At this point he is still at home with my mom during the day and is really trying to talk more and more. He recently went to visit his Nonni, Papa and Anthony and had a great time hanging with them while we went to Napa. He was so good for his Nonni and slept great with her and also ate really well. Too bad when he came home he stopped eating good. These days it is hard to get 3 good meals out of him.

What Johnny is like at 18 months

• Ready for his 3rd haircut. Still has a great head of blond hair with his little cowlick. Looks like it might be getting some brown strands as well now.
• Sleeps in our bed and pretty much sleeps through the night
• Stopped his obsession with muffins and cheese and doesn't really like to eat breakfast anymore
• Favorite foods are pasta, pears, satsumas, raisins, yogurt
• Still takes about 3 milk bottles a day
• Favorite toys are balls, bats, golf club, cars, drum sticks and books
• Favorite TV show is Dinosaur Train and he yells "all aboard" when it comes on
• Loves to play with older kids and lets little girls carry him around
• Obsessed with playing with his toothbrushes and trying to brush his teeth which he sort of does on his own
• Love the park, outdoors, driving my car in the garage and anything with a steering wheel
• Hating his diaper changed again
• Struggling to get words out but you can hear him say Mama, Dada, bird, ball, hot,
• Can show you his eyes, belly button, ears, teeth, tongue and nose which he ends up picking
• Loves pointing to birds, airplanes, cars, balls, and really anything so you tell him what he is pointing at

All around a very happy and easy going guy who I can't get enough of these days.

17 months

It sure has been awhile since I have blogged but what I can say with busy work and life schedule I just haven't had the time. I have a couple of minutes in between meetings today and feel like giving an update on Johnny. It is nice to look back and see where he was at during different months of his life so I think I will capture this more often. If not for historical purposes. :) I am the worst at updating his baby book.

Our little boy is sure not a baby anymore. Something changes after they turn 1 and they just become this toddler and not sure if you want them to stay a little baby or to turn into that little boy that you have dreamed of and actually have a conversation with them. That is where we are at and one thing is for sure you don't stop smiling at every little thing they do and steal kisses and squeezes like you did when they were infants.

Johnny is now 17 months and is as active as ever. The dinners out are very quick and have to be in what I call a "kid-friendly" place. No more Italianissimo unless we can sit outside and so we end up at like mexican resturants, Red Robin, or make sure to have multiple hands on deck like we did in Maui to let him run around outside while we enjoy our food. Johnny runs everywhere now that he is super stable on his feet and is getting into sports now. He kicks balls, is learning to throw a ball and can set up and hit his golf ball off of his toddler tee. He is also taking very much interest in what we do and his toys are pretty much old news to him. My child is going to probably be in the service industry someday as his favorite things to do in life are pretend to drive, vaccum, play in the dishwasher and hang outside and water the lawn or anything for that matter outside.

Here is a list of what he is like now.

• Favorite foods- Cheese, muffins, pasta (meat sauce), grapes, yogurt, bananas, M&Ms
• Loves his baths but also likes the shower
• Loves his puppies and tries to ride them like a horse and lay on them (Sonny puts up with it more than Duffy)
• Cutting 4 molars right now which will be a total of 12 teeth
• Had two haircuts and still has blond hair
• Horrible sleeper (starts in his bed and ends up in ours and wakes up at least 2 times a night for water and binky)
• Still a big snuggler and has turned into a mama's boy
• Talk a lot but it doesn't make any sense. When he wants something he points to it and says "mahn" like mine
• Obsessed with the M&M candy jar and getting one
• Pretty good little dancer

Johnny and his bestie Brody Logsdon at Suncadia

First Haircut

Johnny's beautiful blond hair has been falling into his eyes and so we decided that it was finally time to get his haircut at 14 months.  At first we thought that we would just trim it up a little but after seeing it shape up more we ended up with the little boy perfect hair but.  It reminded me of Lo's son, Tristan, who always has the perfect little fade.  Unfortunately Johnny didn't do nearly as well as we thought and had a breakdown at the Max & Bella salon at Country Village.  We did end up with a complete haircut and little souvenir to take with us but what a hell of a 30 minutes we had with our little guy.  Here is a visual recap.

Starting out in the airplane chair

Happy for now

Getting the full meal deal

Starting to breakdown

Full breakdown and out of the chair so dad has to hold him

but it doesn't work so Grandma has to try and get him excited about the other car chair

He thinks about it for a minute

Is happy for a minute

Then decides he is over it and wants out

So we finally finish the haircut on the floor and what does Johnny want?  The broom of course...his favorite thing.

And here is the final result.  He looks 1 one older.